Vietor Claims Rehabilitation of Germany Must Begin Internally in Cultural Change

Stating that the Allies can not successfully re-educate Germany but that "the Germans must educate themselves," Karl Vietor, Kuno Francke Professor of German Art and Culture, emphasized yesterday that the stimulus for the rehabilitation of Germany as a responsible nation must come from within the country itself.

According to Professor Vietor, who came here from Germany in 1937, "conditions for some time to come after the war will hardly offer any chance for a quick rebirth of the nation as such." He explains, that, in the long run, "the decisive thing should be whether there will develop a spiritual or religious movement strong enough to make the nation realize how deeply it has deteriorated and that it has to struggle for some kind of moral and intellectual renewal."

While elements of the German people have opposed Hitler, Professor Vietor is aware that they have all been forced to submit to the New Order. He does not believe that any known representatives of the liberal element who have escaped will prove future leaders.

Formerly Professor at the University of Giesson, and a visiting lecturer here in 1935 and 1936, Professor Vietor is disinclined to propose any specific policy to be followed in German occupation. He is certain, however, that while "the Allies can prevent a lot of undesirable things," outside pressure alone "cannot force the Germans to become good moral beings."

Finding "some hope" for cultural recovery in an historical analogy. Professor Vietor refers to the period following the devastating Thirty Years War, when the "venerable idea of tolerance sprung up and led to a long period of relatively high culture."

Changes in Germany

Stressing that "Germany has not always been an aggressor," Professor Vietor points out that she "was a peaceful nation in the time of Goethe, Schiller, and the Romanticists." He states, however, that a change came at the end of the nineteenth century, when the country desired to assert itself and oppose the "have" nations such as England.